REVIEW: “SONGS TO MAKE YOU SMILE”, HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT

Phil Hewitt

I must admit when I first learned that the legendary Birkenhead boys Nigel, Neil, Ken & Carl, namely Half Man Half Biscuit (who formed in 1984) were playing in Worthing, I was absolutely stunned. This was to be yet another John Peel fave band that I was finally going to see perform live.

The evening opened with a certain JD Meatyard and his two pals who performed an admirable set. The highlight of which was a rendition of'Pablo Picasso' from the eponymous 1976 Modern Lovers album. The track was also recorded in 2003 by rock-God David Bowie.

The eager, mainly middle-aged, audience didn't have to wait long for Half Man Half Biscuit to make an entrance, as they took to the stage around 8:30pm and performed a career-spanning 90 minute set.

They opened with 'Bob Wilson - Anchorman', then went on to play the classic '....Fred Titmus' from their legendary debut 'Back in the DHSS'album. A popular newie with the crowd followed entitled 'Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride' taken from their 2014 'Urge for Offal' platter.

Other highlights from their enjoyable surreal song set were 'All I Want For Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit', 'Joy Division Oven Gloves'(which was my fave track of the night), 'The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman' and 'Take The Skinheads Bowling'. Their final track of the evening was their debut single 'The Trumpton Riots', which at the time rightly achieved the No1 slot in the Independent singles charts.

My only regret from the evening was that I had wished that they had played for longer and included the likes of 'Time Flies By (When You're The Driver Of A Train)' and 'Dickie Davis Eyes'. But I suppose having been established for 33 years, that a vast majority of their repertoire is bound not to see the light of day live. Having said that, it was a very enjoyable evening.

For more information visit and www.hmhb.co.uk and www.jdmeatyard.com

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